tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6422299.post6499734523981398192..comments2023-08-23T23:53:58.164-04:00Comments on <a href="http://paulstokes.blogspot.com">The Stokes Kith and Kin Community Blog</a>: Denying Insurance Reimbursement for Unnecessary ER VisitsUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6422299.post-47379996921190176782012-09-17T11:22:37.774-04:002012-09-17T11:22:37.774-04:00Further from that article:
"It may not have o...Further from that article:<br />"It may not have occurred to Dr. Thompson and the other folks in charge of this “innovation,” but it seems self-evident that when a person repeatedly goes to an emergency room for problems that are not medically urgent, we are really talking about a social problem rather than a medical one. Heck, other states have recognized this reality. Oregon has launched a very useful and cost-effective program that essentially assigns a social worker to each high-cost Medicaid recipient. A major part of their job is to divert ER-abusing patients away from the emergency room and into keeping their regularly scheduled clinic appointments. As it turns out, sucking up an hour of social worker time is far less costly – and far more effective in changing behavior – than sucking up an hour of hospital and ER time. It makes sense once you bother to think about it. What the new Washington Medicaid program does is simply convert a social problem to an economic one, and then dump it on doctors and hospitals in the private sector. If this is the best government thinkers can do, we are all in some serious trouble. Heads should roll as a result of pulling this sort of stunt. Where’s the Queen of Hearts when you really need her?"Carolnoreply@blogger.com